Page 18 of Drawn Blue Lines

As much shit as she’d caused, an unwelcome smile still tugged at the corners of my mouth as bar bitch shot Adriana a glare, muttering a slew of curses as my beer overflowed onto her shoes. Wiping the sides down, she slammed the mug in front of me and stomped off to the corner, huffing as she tapped away on her ever-present phone.

Lifting the new mug, I took a slow drink and shot her a look out of the corner of my eye. She glared back, with eyes identical to my boss’s. A dark chocolate color with gold flecks that burned like fire when he was pissed.

Kind of like she was now.

“Something wrong?”

“How anyone didn’t realize you were a damn Carrera before I blew the whistle is beyond me,” I muttered around another huge drink. “You have the same condescending stare as your brother.”

“I thought you two were friends.”

“Respect doesn’t make us friends, princesa.”

“Yes, well, the eyes are the window to the soul.” Tilting her chin, she held my gaze. “But the heart is the doorway to sin.”

Tou-fucking-ché.

I raised my glass in a toast. “I’ll drink to that.”

“It appears you’ll drink to anything these days.”

I held her stare while taking my time drinking long and slow just to piss her off. From the way her lips pursed tighter than an asshole, I succeeded. Adriana stood there as if waiting for me to offer the seat she just vacated and invite her to join me. If she thought I still subscribed to that kind of chivalrous bullshit, she had a lot to learn. I didn’t give a shit if she stood there until her fucking legs fell off.

Normally, I would’ve egged her on, but she’d come to me for a reason, and I was tired of dancing around the seventeen-million-dollar elephant in the room. “So, you want your revenge. Is that what stealing my shipments and this pathetic reorganization attempt is about?”

I could feel the anger rolling off her in waves, but that didn’t stop her from jerking out the stool beside me and sitting down. “Not very skilled in small talk, are you?”

“I’m getting bored, Miss Carrera. You want to cut to the chase?” I lifted the mug to my mouth again, glancing out of the corner of my eye to find an angry flush rushing up that sexy, slim neck. Thankfully, my cheeks were full of beer and unable to give in to the smirk begging to break free.

She groaned, digging her palm into her forehead. “Would you stop talking and listen? I didn’t steal anything, and I’m not reorganizing shit. I’m being set up.”

“Right.”

“You’re burning the wrong person at the stake.”

“And you’re fucking with the wrong Carrera,” I growled, leaning forward. “I’m not stupid. Shipments go missing, the Muñoz Cartel is involved, your name is given as the leader, and now here you are.”

“Your point?”

“If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then guess what sweetheart? It’s not a fucking chicken.”

Adriana rolled her eyes. “Who wouldn’t want revenge,” she admitted, some of the bite leaving her voice. “You ruined my life. Why would you do that? What was so goddamn important about me that you had to do that?”

I stared at her, momentarily taken aback by her sudden and unexpected burst of vulnerability.

Nothing.

Not a damn thing was important about her.

It had to do with a different woman. One who’d already chosen another man, but who I still couldn’t seem to let go. I did it to protect my ex-girlfriend.

Okay, that was a lie.

I wanted to prove a point. I wanted her to open her eyes and see that the man who had her heart lived in a savage world. A world where men slaughtered entire families and brainwashed children. If she had left everything she knew to be with him, it would’ve been the biggest mistake of her life.

Eden would’ve been nothing but a pawn.

Disposable collateral.

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